Exposure of transparent functional surfaces, particularly those associated with integrated displays and medical devices, to bioburden and environmental contamination present both functional and hygienic challenges which can interfere with device performance or cause device failure. As a consequence, there has been an accelerating interest in coatings that purport to be self-cleaning. These coatings are sometimes referred to as super-amphiphobic or super-omniphobic. Anti-fogging and anti-icing coatings are often associated with the same concepts. While control of physical topography and fabrication techniques are essential elements in achieving coating performance, nearly all of the proposed coatings utilize building blocks that contain components with extremely low polarity for oleophobicity, such as perfluorinated hydrocarbons, or with aprotic high polarity, such as polyethers for hydrophilicity. Silanes and silicones are often of interest as building blocks for these coatings due to their ability to form thin films.
To date, there are few examples of silanes and silicones that contain distinct low polarity and high polarity substitutions on a single silicon atom, but 1,1,2,2-tetrahydroperfluoroalkylsilanes and polyethyleneoxysilanes are well known. More limited are examples in which high polarity and low polarity blocks are combined in a single substitution, such as dodecyloxypolyethyleneoxypropyl silanes. In order to control the structure of coatings on a nanostructural level, it is highly desirable to provide silanes, both as surface treatments and as silicone monomers, in which substitutions on the silicon atom have independent low polarity and high polarity. By independently controlling oleophobicity and hydrophilicity at a molecular level, the opportunity is afforded to structure surfaces which are less susceptible to the formation of adherent films derived from environmental or biological contamination. Further, polymeric siloxanes derived from these materials are potentially surfactants.